the team next door finds them nearly every year so it can't be that hard. I'm sure they thought that, I think they were wrong though.
The team next door plays a 4-3 defense, not a 3-4. Because of the 3-4, teams need to look at college DE's and project them as OLB's which now requires pass coverage and a rush from a stand-up position. That type of transition is easier said than done.
That is true but the last time we drafted a big time pass rusher it was for a 3-4 scheme where me moved him to OLB and he was a pass rush demon as a rookie before he got hurt then we transitioned him to a 4-3 end where he became one of the best pass rushers in the game.
That's my point exactly. For every John Abraham and Mario Williams, there are about 10 Vernon Gholston's. Few players can make transition successfully.
Well. alternately teams can just draft 3-4 linebackers from college to play that position in the Pros. This works really well for the Steelers. All this moving people from DE to OLB sounds just fine and dandy but look at who the Steelers linebackers are. LaMarr Woodley - played LB at Michigan. Lawrence Timmons - played LB at Florida State. James Farrior - played LB at Virginia. James Harrison - played LB at Kent State. When the Steelers do draft an undersized 4-3 DE and try to convert him over to LB it's with a lot of lead time. Jason Worilds was drafted in 2010 as the long-term replacement for James Harrison. He's expected to start in 2013.
Actually it was Fatcessa that brought up the need for evolution at the safety position months ago, his quote was, someone like Urlacher but 20pounds lighter That's Maybin to a T. As I said, it won't be him, but he's the physical prototype too big for a conventional safet....too small for a LB
The question here is, how do you fix the nightmare TE mismatch scenario? You call yourself cache tell us how you fix it, K? I said Maybin isn't going to be that guy, but laid out how you can , Make that work by using him to force the TE to block. But he is the physical match for the next step in what ths SS will be. Much like the tweeter De becomes an LB
Anyway yo guys hijacked this thread on an ancillary comment I made about dumping Eric smith Bottom lone is,between carry over and next year being Paces last, Tanny can kafford Mario
Can afford and willing to spend the money are 2 different things. With the lack of depth and needs at other positions there would be very little we could do after signing Williams. Id rather sign Upshaw and get someone like Clint Avril to help the front 7 then still have money to fix RG, wr, and safety. Putting all our eggs in the super mario basket would be like Aso last year. Leaves us at the end of FA with nothing while other good not great FAs are gone.
Who said all our eggs? Depending on the price you may not be talking about that much of an increase in what you're paying Pace now
The thing with Mario is he is an amazing pass rusher coming off a injury common to steroid use. I don't know much abt nfl testing but I think teams are gonna think twice before signing him. Id rather draft a pass rusher in the 1st rd, and get a WR in the next rd... Then we sign FA's for safety and tackle positions. I do think we are going to need a Scott replacement soon also and we should draft a lb to learn under scott. We can't afford to pay top money to safeties, tackle, and Lbs. I think with the correct mix from this draft and free agency we should be ok.
You don't think Mario is going to be looking for 12+ million a year because I do. I also think someone will give it to him.
Best news I've heard since April '09. Listen- Super Mario can flat ball but defense is not the issue on this squad. Youth in the front 7 could be needed but let's spend some cash on creating a real offense, no? Plaxico- really? He's gone and he should be. Santonio should follow him but that's unlikely. Let's use some money on our offense. Being in a real JET. No more castaways.
What you need for the TE's are LB's who can play in coverage. But in order for that to be effective you need to be able to generate a pass rush from your DL.
I really think you need a redefinition of the coverage for TE's at this point. Nobody ever figured out how to cover Antonio Gates effectively because he was much taller than the safeties and much faster than the LB's for the most part. Football evolves. The current evolution is TE's who are really hard to cover because they have a primary mismatch against anybody on the defense who would cover them. The next evolution is to figure out how to cover 6'5" 4.65 when the corners are already spoken for.
